MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's information technology (IT) market may grow 15-20% in 2006 year-on-year to reach $44-45 billion, a senior information ministry official said Tuesday.

In recent years, Russia's IT market has been developing at a faster rate than in most European and Asian countries.

"The IT market topped 1 trillion rubles [$38 billion] in 2005, and is forecast to grow by a further 15-20%," Oleg Byakhov, a department head at the Information and Communications Ministry, told a roundtable on investment in Russia's IT sector.

He said investment in the industry had also increased, reaching about $4.8 billion in the first half of 2006, compared to $2.9 billion in the same period of last year.

Byakhov said IT sector growth in Russia, which totaled 24.5% in 2005, was far above average international figures, and outstripped Germany (3.4%), Britain (5.1%), France (6%), China (11.6%) and India (22.9%).

"If investment, including in the IT area, develops steadily, Russia has every chance of occupying a strong position in international labor division," Byakhov said.